Happy Birthday to me!

Well, I had started this post on my birthday but with two babies, of course, it never got finished. And after that other things claimed my attention.
But with JQ threatening to ban me, I must post this right away. Here goes!

Last birthday, the only wish I truly had was to have another 'single' bday and each time I thought about it and wished for it, I smiled at my foolishness because I saw no way of it coming true......I told myself every single time that I should be happy that I made it till here and should not be greedy.

And like all things which we ask for but are not good for us, I have got it. Although I know that I am wrong, but I cannot squash the happy, relieved feeling I have. To make things even more special, I bid goodbye to my 20s in a very special, unique way. I will never celebrate a 20s bday again, but I saw off the decade with celebration paralleled to an Indian wedding.

As usual, my sister made the day special for me. A flashback of my childhood where she and dad always made sure that I celebrated my bday - a ritual which had got lost once our home broke up........And of course, I have the capacity of appreciating any number of gifts she can give me. The best gift of course was from the chudail - the 'aaapy baaaaday to you' (happy bday to you) song which she sang for me.
The day or rather night started with a card. Then we went for an adult(sans babies) lunch to an exotic restaurant - The Persian Room - which was quite good. We had the cake cutting in the evening. The cake was a superb fruit cake from an European bakery which makes cakes almost (in fact better) than what we have in India. And then dinner with the kids........And then more cards......

I apologize to all people who did not know that I was away and would have wasted hard earned money when the call went to voicemail.

Although I have occasional tiffs with him, I would like to thank God for all the good things(quite large in number) I have had in life and for giving me the strength to deal with the not too good stuff. I will try not to crib about the responsibility I have as it comes with a lot of stuff I treasure.....And thank God for the loving family, the accomplished goals and the power to dream on......

I dont know what lies ahead, what I do know is that I have to keep moving ahead, and if I look back, it should be nostalgia and not regret. I have had to learn a lot of lessons in life and many of them though bitter are, I hope, well learnt. I have lived life on my own terms till now and I pray to God that I am able to do so in future and discharge all my duties to the best of my abilities.

To twist someone's words - "God Bless Us All"

Edit: I forgot to mention the fortune cookie I got after our dinner at the Chinese restaurant......Beth was very cranky and to distract her, Kumar got a lot of the cookies. I took one and gave the others to her to play. Next day I opened the coookie and the fortune was:

"A passionate new romance will appear in your life when you least expect it"

I have saved the scrap of paper which claims to be my fortune. Amen.